Jack Canyon and The Wiccan Stones | CHAPTER SIX

Words: 1824

Jack didn't remember much about the fall or how he ended up at
the temple. A small pool, or lagoon, reached up to the front
door of the temple. He lay motionless in it. Perhaps he had
drifted in, or was dragged.

Hiroshi and Taku helped Yuriko onto dry land near the entrance
to the temple. Kisho stood by with the other armed men as Kin
jerked Jack to his feet.

Jack was soaked, but so were the others. He dripped as he
moved to the entrance of the temple. He didn't speak. He
just handed the stones over to Yuriko and continued onward
into the temple.

Yuriko and Hiroshi followed him inside. Kin, Kisho, and the
other men followed behind them.

Jack's mind went back to five years ago when he was inside
another water temple, where he found the Book of Origin.
Though, with that memory came memories of Sophia.

Yuriko stayed close to the clever Jack Canyon, for she
believed he would do something in order to stop her or at
least escape. However, one wrong step caused the ground
beneath her to break open and swallow her.

Jack turned as she screamed and jumped forward to catch her
hands. He slid forward as her weight pulled him toward the
void. He looked down into the darkness as he held onto her.
"I have you! Stop moving!" He glanced back at the others.
"Help me!"

Hiroshi and Kisho helped Jack get Yuriko onto solid ground
again.

Jack rolled over after she was pulled up to safety. His arms
hurt as did his body from the slide. He breathed deeply as he
tried to regain himself.

Yuriko was speechless as she looked at Jack. "You saved me,"
she spoke in confusion.

"What can I say?" Jack asked as he slowly rose to his feet.
His eyes met hers as he moved on down the hall.

Yuriko was still confused by his words and actions, but
nevertheless, she continued to follow the archaeologist deeper
inside the temple. She was beginning to see just how insane
this man was. All the stories she had heard were true.

Jack kept his eyes open for booby traps, but he had not yet
found any, which made him weary. He led the entire expedition
team into a large chamber filled with large glass tubes of
water. He closely examined one of them with Yuriko as the
other men observed the other tubes.

"What are these?" Yuriko asked.

"I don't know," Jack replied as he tapped on the glass.

One of the Japanese men knocked on a glass tube which began to
bubble viciously. He began screaming aloud in Japanese.

Jack turned and looked at him, when he noticed the angry
bubbling. "Why do I have such a bad feeling?"

The bubbling intensified even more and the five tubes broke
violently. The water spilled out, but some of it stayed in
the form of a bipedal figure.

"What is that?" Yuriko asked fearfully.

"Water guardians!" Jack announced.

Yuriko shouted out in Japanese, and her men started firing
upon the water monsters, but the bullets passed right through
them. She jerked around and eyed Jack. "What do we do?"

"Give me the fire stone!" Jack cried as he stretched out his
hand.

Yuriko threw him the bag that had the stones.

Jack pulled the ruby from the bag and neared a water guardian.
Hoping for the best, Jack shoved the stone into the midst of
a guardian's liquid body.

There came a monstrous groan from the beast as it evaporated
in an uproar of steam.

Jack turned to do it to another one, but he was knocked back
by another guardian. He lost his grip on the stone and
dropped it. He moved as quickly as he could to avoid the
monster's attacks. He raced around the chamber.

The guardians were drowning their enemy.

Jack tripped and fell onto the steps on the far side of the
room. As he turned to see where the water monster was, he was
overcome by water. He was inside the belly of the beast as it
used its power to contain Jack and drown him.

Yuriko had picked up the stone and made her way over to Jack.
With swift and fast movement, she thrust the ruby into the
heart of the beast as if she were punching it.

There came a groan and it erupted into a puff of steam.

Jack fell to the ground and caught his breath. He was soaked
to the bone.

"I saved your life," Yuriko told him. "We are even."

Jack brushed his hair back with his hand as he got to his
feet. "This way," he urged her. "Come on!" He grabbed her
arm and forced her to go down the hall. He ducked into the
hallway as a water demon smashed itself against the wall as it
attacked.

Some of her men even broke free and followed them into the
corridor to continue their search.

A loud popping sound came from behind the walls, which caused
everyone to stop in their tracks.

"Not again," Jack said to himself.

Then came a grinding sound, which eventually broke into a
rumbling and crumbling sound as large spokes burst through the
wall closest to the exit near the chamber they had recently
escaped.

"GO!" Jack yelled as he pushed Yuriko ahead of himself. As
they moved, more spokes ripped through the wall in sections,
until the entire corridor was shredded.

Yuriko stood with Jack in the next chamber looking at the
demolished hall they had just left. "I am beginning to hate
this."

"You and me both, sister," Jack said as he turned and moved
inward into the temple. He broke through the cobwebs in the

next chamber's entrance to find the water stone on an altar in

the middle of the room.

This chamber was different. It was darker than the others and

seemed completely empty, where the others had booby traps and

water guardians. Those were the first guardians of the stones

the team had run into. What more was in store?

Yuriko looked around in amazement at the wall of water that

surrounded the chamber, as if the walls of the chamber were

made of water. She stepped forward, but was quickly stopped

by Jack.

"Don't move," he told her.

"There is nothing here to fear," she replied.

"There's always something," Jack said as he cautiously stepped

forward. "Step where I step."

Yuriko waited for him to move forward before she stepped where

he did. She knew he didn't want to set off any traps, but she

felt as if nothing would occur here.

Jack moved up a small incline of steps and then stood a foot

away from the altar. He could not help but grin like a

madman. This was it, the third stone, a large sapphire.

"Grab it!" Yuriko urged him.

"Just give me a second," Jack stated as he examined the altar.

He remember the incident at the Sphinx. The removal of the

stone made the sands collapse into the maze beneath the Giza

guardian. He also recalled the collapse of the volcano after

the stone was removed. Chills flooded his body as the

memories of all this flooded his mind.

"What are you waiting for?" Yuriko asked.

"Nothing," Jack replied. "Just. . . get ready to run."

"Run to where? The way in is blocked by those gears." Yuriko pointed at the destruction in the corridor.

"I don't know, but just be ready," he told her again. He pulled the stone from the cradle that held it so gently as if it were a new born baby. He held it close and looked around the chamber, awaiting for the water wall to collapse into the room and drown them all.

To the left, a stone door began to rise, revealing an exit.

"Go," Jack said as he pushed Yuriko along. He followed her for the exit, but paused as the other men tagged along as well. He spun around and punched the closest man to him knocking him into the others, causing a domino effect. He was about to join Yuriko again when the water wall collapsed.

The chamber flooded in mere minutes and the corridor was next.

Yuriko reached the end of the tunnel to find a dead end. "There's no way out!"

Jack dropped the sapphire into the bag with the ruby and emerald. He hoped they would do something with their combined power.

"Hurry up!" Yuriko shouted as the corridor continued to flood rapidly.

"I'm working on it!" He yelled back.

"Work faster!"

Jack could barely see in the dim hall. He shook the bag, "Work, damn it!"

Yuriko held her head high as the water level rose even more. "If you have a plan, I suggest you put it into motion!"

The small part of the wall behind them broke open, spilling them and the water out into another chamber.

Before she could get to her feet properly, Jack helped Yuriko up and forced her onward. He tried to keep his footing as the chamber flooded swiftly. "There!" Jack pointed out at another corridor.

Yuriko moved toward it as the water swept them away. She slid head first down the hallway with Jack close behind her. They found themselves in the next chamber, one they had left before.

The final two water guardians standing in the chamber jerked around to see the gushing water just as it splattered them.

Before Jack could continue his escape with Yuriko, the last of her men cocked their guns aiming them at Jack, who froze in place.

"It's good to know you're alive Ms. Mushanaokoji," Kisho said as he knocked Jack down.

"No time for this," Yuriko told him. "Where is Hiroshi and Taku?"

"They aren't with you?" Kin asked.

Hiroshi and Taku came from the flooded corridor with only a few men.

"This is it?" Yuriko questioned them. "This is all that made it?"

"Yes, ma'am," Hiroshi answered. "Why don't we get out of here before the entire place floods or collapses."

"Good plan," Yuriko said as she jerked Jack Canyon up. "Bring him. He may be of use once more."

Kin and Taku grabbed Jack by his arms and escorted him toward the exit. Hiroshi walked with Yuriko as Kisho and the other men took up the rear to watch Jack from behind.

Yuriko led them all back to the lagoon, but the water still flooded the temple and began pouring into the lagoon. She stopped at the edge of the lagoon where the waterfall resided. She looked back at the temple as it vanished behind the water. "I think there is only one way out of this." She looked forward at the misting waterfall.

"I am tired of water," Hiroshi said as he watched Yuriko step forward. He sighed heavily and followed her, as did the other men.